Jerusalem, January 20: Israel on Wednesday expelled a US journalist working for a Palestinian news agency, Maan, the agency reported.
Maan said its English-language editor Jared Malsin, who had been held at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport for the past week, called to say he was being placed on a flight to New York.
“He sounded shaken and confused,” said George Hale, a journalist with Maan.
Malsin had appealed the expulsion order but apparently dropped the challenge yesterday without the knowledge of his lawyer, Maan said in a statement.
“Maan is deeply concerned that there was no lawyer present when Malsin apparently filed this independent motion,” the private news agency said.
“Without jumping to conclusions, Maan wants to be sure these events did not take place under duress,” it said, adding that Malsin’s lawyer and relatives had been unable to reach him in the 24 hours before the deportation.
Malsin was detained on January 12 upon returning from vacation in Prague and told he would be deported on security grounds, Hale said.
The interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
–PTI